ABSTRACT
Key for children to be successful both in their educational journey and in life is for them to develop positive, can-do attitudes towards all potential learning opportunities they encounter. This is as much about making mistakes as it is about success. Resilience requires setbacks, and practitioners should recognise that children’s effort in achieving what they set out to do is of far more value than measuring their learning by externally imposed outcomes. Learning for young children is a messy, non-linear process, which should not be based on judgements influenced by the government’s top-down “schoolification” of early years. This chapter explores the value for children of developing positive dispositions and the significance of true involvement based on interest-led learning through play. The role of the practitioner as an enabling and responsive partner recognises how learning is holistic and begins with children’s own unique and individual ideas about their world.
